Want To Build a Solar Panel?
How to Make it is a Snap

To make a solar panel system you will need silicon. But making solar panels using silicon is costly. Therefore, a cheap option is used to make solar panel, namely, cuprous oxide. Cuprous oxide has photoelectric properties just like any other metal compounds. It should be noted that cuprous oxide is not as effective as silicon. But the cost factor renders it as a viable option to make solar panels.

What you will need to make a solar panel

To make a solar panel, you will need a 1000 watts electric coil heater, having a broad bottom. A square copper dish, that is smaller than the coil of the heater and can be fixed securely inside the heater.

Procedure of making the solar panel:

First, clean the copper dish properly. Use sand paper so that the plate gets thoroughly cleaned. Next, heat the copper dish for approximately half an hour. When the temperature increases, oxidation takes place, and the color of the dish turns to brown first and then black, from the original pink color. When the dish becomes black, you need to stop the heating. The black color is cupric oxide. Below the outer cover of black color, lies a red cover. This is cuprous oxide. Allow the dish to cool. It should be noted that there would be a time gap between cooling of the oxide and cooling of the copper plates. Once the dish cools, clean the cupric oxide, as it is nothing but the soot and is of no use to us. Take care while cleaning the soot, so as not to remove the red coating.

After this, take a big water bottle or a bottle with a wider mouth. Alternatively, you can cut off the upper portion of the bottle to make its opening wider. Now, keep the copper dish on it. The red color of the dish should be towards the bottle. Use another copper piece of the identical size and place it inside the bottle. Ensure that the plates do not come in contact with each other. Add salt water in the bottle such that almost 80% of the dishes are under the salt water. Fix two clips to the dishes. Take a micrometer and connect it with the plates so that the positive end is attached to the copper plate, and the negative end is attached to the red colored plate. Now keep this under the direct rays of the Sun. Your home made solar panel is ready. See the ammeter reading and you can notice the current flowing. This shows that your solar panel is working.

Generating energy through solar panels offers huge benefits. First and foremost, solar panels are a cheaper option to generate electricity. Secondly, we are protecting the environment, by reducing the carbon emissions. Another advantage is that we are making use of natural energy which is available in plenty and is available free of cost. Solar panel energy is the purest form of energy.